July 7th – Monkey falls

We'd heard about an interesting hike from Dr. Pemba in a national
park that is 2 hours back along the road to Dar Es Salaam. Being a national
holiday (they call it saba saba (lit. 7th/7th), we took the
opportunity to visit the Udzungwa Mountains national park for a day hike. Dr.
Pemba was amazing about arranging the experience and even provided the
transport to and from the park (the roomy land rover was much nicer
than the cramped bus on those bumpy roads!). We were planning on a 5
hour hike up the Udzungwa mountains, so we left the center just after
7:00 and were on the trail at 9:30.
We had a great guide with us, David, who's been hiking these trails
for many years and was very knowledgeable about the flora and fauna in
the park. Udzungwa is one of the top 40 biodiversity hotspots in the
world apparently, and includes 2 species of primate that are found
nowhere else on earth. In addition, the trail we were going to hike
would lead us up 600m to a set of three waterfalls, the tallest of which
cascades down a full 170m. We were excited for a great day of hiking.
Right away the guide starting pointing out interesting insects,
spiders and plants: stuff that one would never see in our climate. The
whole time walking up I just wanted to take more and more pictures of
everything I looked at. Well, not the whole way, seeing as it was a
decent ascent at a quick pace… I was breathing pretty hard a lot of
the way! I've include just a sampling of the photos that I took on the
hike, but the trees alone would fill a photo album. The canopy towered
majestically above us, supported by massive trunks and buttresses
below. Large tarzan-type vines hung from branches 100 feet in the air.
The sounds of birds and insects were subdued, but ever-present.
Within 10 minutes of hiking we heard and then saw our first monkeys.
Blue monkeys; not to be confused with the previously mentioned
blue-ball monkeys. There was a family about 50 feet away in a tree,
peering intently at us for a few seconds before going about their
business. Just as we turned to leave, one of the monkeys launched
himself 20 feet down onto an adjacent tree, the whole branch bending
under his weight. It was great. Not 5 mintues later we caught a
glimpse of some black and white colobus monkeys, but they were high up
and not easily viewed.
The rest of the 2 hour hike up to the waterfalls was fantastic, with
many great look-out points, both of the river valley and the
waterfalls. Once we got to the top, at the base of the third and
highest waterfall, the guide told us that we should have a swim. It
was "cold for me, but only cool for Canadians", and after the hike up,
we couldn't say no, despite feeling like we were rolling the dice with
freshwater parasites… I can say that it was legitimately cold, but you'll have to stay tuned for the
parasitic infection. After the swim we had lunch on the rock plateau
that sits just above the 170m waterfall. It was a gorgeous view of the
plains and agricultural fields that surround the area.
The hike down was when we saw most of the action with the primates.
The sun had come out more fully and I think they became more active,
because we saw a small group of Mangabay monkeys on the ground
(endemic to the area) and then as we came to the base of the large
waterfall, we saw a group of 7 red-headed Colobus (unique to this
park) and 5 or 6 black and white Colobus monkeys. These were the
famous monkeys we'd been looking for, and they obliged us by posing
for a few seconds for pictures before scampering off into the canopy.
It was a fantastic sight and one that I won't soon forget: just as I
won't soon forget the whole day. The best Saba Saba holiday I'll ever
experience I think.
The pictures that I've posted are only a sampling of what I wanted to.
I might make an online album later on.